Dear Jackie: Love in a Time of War
by LedZepGrl
Summary: Complete A/U. Story starts off in 1969 and continues on into the early 70s. A fic set during the Vietnam War.


Dear Jackie: Love, in a Time of War

A/N – This is a totally different kind of story about That 70s Show. This is going to be a story about the Vietnam War. I'm a former military wife myself. My husband served proudly in the United States Marine Corps for the last 4 and ½ years and is an OIF combat vet with a purple heart. The military is very near and dear to me, and a huge part of my life. I thought setting the show during Vietnam would be an interesting topic to write about. That being said, the show will start in 1969 and continue on into the early 70s. I haven't written anything in a really long time, but have been feeling inspired lately. Hopefully my writing won't be too rusty! It's a complete alternate universe fic, so there will be A LOT of out of character-ness. If you don't like it, don't send me nasty comments, and just don't read it.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from That 70s Show. Too bad.

Chapter 1 – Hold Me Tight

_Hold me tight,_

_Tell me I'm the only one,_

_And then I might,_

_Never be the lonely one_

**May 23, 1969**

Jackie Burkhart flashed a smile, as flush bulbs went off all around her.

She had just been named Prom Queen for the class of 1969, even though she wasn't a senior at her high school, Point Place High. It just went to show how popular she really was. Her long time boyfriend, Michael Kelso was the Prom King, and he stood next to her with a big dopey smile on his face. She looked up at him, and smiled wistfully. She couldn't believe how happy and easygoing he was right now. Their lives were about to change in 2 weeks, and he seemed like he didn't have a care in the world. She, on the other hand, was being torn up inside.

After pictures were done, and they shared their dance as king and queen, they walked back over to their friends. Eric Forman was sitting next to his girlfriend Donna Pinciotti, with his arm hanging loosely over her shoulders. Her red hair had been swept up into a bun, with pieces of hair curled and falling to frame her face. Jackie had done her hair and make up for her for the night. She wore a long green dress with a plunging neckline. Jackie normally thought Donna looked like a lumberjack, but tonight she looked like a girl, and looked beautiful. And by the way Eric was drooling all over her and pawing at her, her obviously though so too. Jackie always thought that Donna was way too good for Eric. He was a skinny, scrawny geek, and in no way attractive to Jackie. But, he did worship the ground Donna walked on, and what girl could resist that?

Steven Hyde was in the corner making out with Pam Macy. Jackie rolled her eyes. Steven Hyde loved sluts. He was always going after the slutty girls. And the sluts loved him. He was poor, and scruffy, and had that bad boy appeal to him. Girls loved to "slum" it with him, especially since he was never looking for anything serious, just a quick hook up. He was at least an attractive guy, more so than Eric, in Jackie's opinion. Jackie had known Hyde since she was about 5 years old, the same amount of time that she had known Eric, Donna, and Michael. But she and Hyde could just never get along. They were complete opposites, got on each other's nerves, and could never agree on anything. It was the basis of their friendship.

She watched with a smile on her face as Fez ran out to the dance floor to dance to a disco song. Fez absolutely loved disco, almost as much as candy, girls, and porno. He was one of Jackie's good friends. She could trust him with anything, and he was always there for her. He also worshiped her, which Jackie loved. She would never date him, on the account that he was foreign, but she loved being his friend.

Jackie smiled as she looked around at her friends. They had been through so much together, and they were such a close-knit group of friends. She felt tears come to her eyes, as she thought about how much would be changing within the next few weeks. Jackie was only a junior at Point Place High School, so soon she would be the only one of the gang left in school. But the worst part of it all was that her boyfriend, Michael, was leaving in 2 weeks for Basic Training with the Army.

She didn't want him to go. He had signed up on his 18th birthday in December of 1968 without her knowing. He signed to leave a week after he graduated high school. She cried for days after he told her he had signed up. She remembered asking "Why?" a lot. He did it because his older brother Casey had enlisted. He wanted to make his parents proud.

They had grown up with the Vietnam War. Everyone knew about it, and how bad it was. There was no escaping it. Everywhere you looked, it was on the news, on the radio, in the newspapers, and in the magazines. It was the most controversial war ever. There had been talks about a draft being re-instated at the end of the year. Anyone born between the years 1944-1950 would be affected. Hyde and Eric had been born in 1951 and wouldn't be affected by the draft. Kelso, whom had been born in December of 1950, would have been. The only way to avoid the draft was to enlist, or go to college. Jackie begged for days for him to forget about it, and to go to college, even if it were just at the local community college. He apologized many times, but told her there was no turning back now. And here they were, almost 6 months later, and the day for him to leave for basic training was only 2 weeks away.

"Jackie, you need to stop looking so sad all the time! It makes me want to cry." She heard Donna say.

Jackie forced a bright smile and looked over at her best friend. "I'm sorry Donna. It's just so weird to think that you're not all going to be here with me next year."

Hyde stopped sucking face with Pam Macy long enough to get some air and make a rude comment. "Yea, her boyfriend is also about to leave on a death sentence," he said.

Jackie's face immediately fell, and tears started to stream down her face.

"What the hell Hyde?" Donna screamed at him and punched him in the arm. "Apologize to her right now. You know this isn't easy for her!"

Jackie looked over at her best friend and smiled, happy that she was sticking up for her. Donna was lucky her boyfriend was such a pussy. He was terrified of joining the military or being drafted, so he signed up for early acceptance to the University of Wisconsin the previous fall. Lucky for him, he got in. It always struck Jackie as odd that he was such a pussy, considering his father, Red, was a total hard ass. He had served in the Navy during World War II/

Hyde looked at her for a minute through his aviator sunglasses. He saw the tears on her face, and immediately felt like an ass. As much as he couldn't stand Jackie, he hated to see her cry. "I'm sorry, Jackie," he said. "That went a little too far."

Jackie smiled through her tears. As much as Hyde pissed her off, she couldn't just shrug off an apology from him, since they were few and far between. "It's ok Hyde," she said.

"So what does everyone think of us blowing off this thing, and getting wasted at Forman's?" Hyde asked. Everyone was in agreement, and walked out of the Point Place High gym. It was time to kick back a few beers, have a circle, and try to forget that everything was about to change.

**May 30, 1969 **

It was graduation day for Kelso, Hyde, Donna, Eric, and Fez. Jackie sat in the stands of the high school football team with Red and Kitty Forman, crying her eyes out. Kitty was also very teary eyed, and taking pictures of everything.

"OH will you two dumbasses stop with the water works already?" Red said to Kitty and Jackie,

"Oh Red, our babies are all grown up! It's just so sad!" Kitty exclaimed.

"And Michael leaves for Basic Training in a week," Jackie said through her tears.

Red rolled his eyes. It still amazed him that the kettle head had it in him to even enlist into the Army. Then again, the dumbass was probably never going to go to college anyways, and would have been drafted. His ass probably would have ended up in Vietnam anyways. Of course, he would never say this to Jackie. He didn't like any of the dumbasses that crawled around his basement, but if he had to choose a favorite, it was Jackie for sure. At least she knew how to hold a flashlight and work on a car.

The ceremony ended, and they waded their way through the crowd to get to the rest of the kids.

"Ok pictures! Pictures! I want lots of pictures! This will be the last time I get you all together in a very long time!" Kitty exclaimed. This only made Jackie cry harder. But she wiped the tears from her face, and jumped into the pictures to stand next to Kelso.

They all planned to head back to the Forman's for a cook out and a small party. Jackie felt out of sorts the whole time. Kelso was off enjoying himself, acting like he didn't care in the least that he was leaving Point Place in a week. He just didn't get how he could be that way, when she was carrying the burden with her everywhere she went.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Se heard Donna ask, as she sat on the Forman's front door step with Jackie.

Jackie heaved in a huge sigh. "I'm just so scared, Donna," she said. "I don't know what to expect. We all know that he's going to be sent to Vietnam. They all do. And we know what it's like over there. What if he doesn't come home?" Jackie asked, as she turned to Donna with tears in here eyes.

Donna's heart ached for the girl sitting next to her. She tried to put herself in Jackie's shoes. What if it were Eric that was leaving? It pained her too much to think about it,

"He's going to make it, Jackie. Casey made it, so I have no doubt that Kelso will too. He'll have the will to survive, and know that you'll be here waiting for him. You're going to keep him going out there. And we're all here for you, Jackie. Me, Eric, Fez, the Forman's. Even Hyde. We're all going to be here for you through it all."

Jackie leaned over and pulled Donna into a tight hug. "Thanks so much Donna. That means a lot to me."

_Same time, Forman basement_

"Man, a week from now, I'm gonna be in some other state playing with guns and learning how to kill people! I can't believe the United States is trusting me with a gun!" Kelso said, as he sat in his place in the circle.

"Man, I can't believe they're trusting you with a gun either. Desperate times call for desperate measures, man. They'll take anyone right now," Hyde said.

"Kelso man. Be safe out there," Eric said.

"Yes, Kelso. You're way too pretty for anything to happen to you. The Viet Kong will be way too astounded by your face, that I bet they won't shoot," Fez said.

"Eric! Get your ass up here and help me grill these burgers!" Red yelled from the top of the stairs.

Eric and Fez got up from their seats to get back outside, Hyde got up from his seat as well, but Kelso stopped him before he could move anymore.

"Hyde man, I gotta ask you something," Kelso said.

Hyde sighed. Usually when Kelso had a question, it was something pretty stupid that a 5th grader could answer. "What's up?" Hyde asked.

"Listen, of anything happens to me out there, I need you to promise me that you'll take care of Jackie."

Hyde just stared at Kelso with his arms folded across his chest for what seemed like forever. "You've got to be kidding me. Right? Jackie and I hate each other!" Hyde said.

"Ok, come on. I know you two say you hate each other all the time, but deep down, I know you guys' care for each other. And I can't ask Eric to do this, since he has Donna. And Fez is way too creepy. You're my only choice. And I know she would be in good hands with you," Kelso said.

Hyde stood quiet again for a long time, thinking what Kelso was saying over. As much as he didn't want to agree to this, the idiot made a lot of sense. Plus, nothing was going to happen to Kelso. He was going to be just fine. And he couldn't say no to one of his best friend.

"You got it," Hyde said and shook Kelso's hand.

**July 1969**

While Kelso was away at Basic Training, it had been the longest 4 weeks of Jackie's life. He was able to come home for a week after training. A week was nowhere near long enough for Jackie though. Especially since his next stop was California for about 2 weeks of training, and then off to Vietnam. Her worst nightmare was coming true.

They sat in her father's Lincoln at the airport, and Jackie could not stop crying. Everyone else had said their goodbyes at the Forman's house, but Jackie had insisted that she drive him to the airport. She wanted as much time with him as she could get.

"Jackie, baby, please stop crying. It's going to be ok," Kelso said to her.

"No, Michael, no! I just have such a bad feeling about all this!" Jackie wailed.

"Jackie, I'm going to be fine. I'm going to be back home before you know it. We'll get married and have lots of babies," he said.

Jackie smiled through the tears. "You know I'll be waiting here for you," she said.

"I know you will, But Jackie…if something does happen to me, I want you to be able to be happy. So, I do want you to move on and find someone else, if I don't make it home," he said,

"No Michael! Stop! That won't happen, ok? You're coming home," she said,

"Yes. Yes I am," he said.

They sat in her car kissing for a while. Kelso finally pulled away looking at the time. His flight would be leaving within the hour.

"Jackie, this is it. I need to go," he said.

"I wish you didn't have to go," she said. "I'm going to write you every day. I promise. Before I go to bed at night, so I can tell you about my day."

"Sounds perfect. I'll call you before I leave California for Vietnam," he said.

They shared one final kiss, and he got out of the car. She watched as he slowly walked inside the airport. She knew he was just as scared as she was. But he was determined. And as much as didn't want him to do this, she had never been more proud of someone in her life.

**August 20, 1969**

Kelso had been gone for 6 weeks. For the last 4 weeks he had been in Vietnam. He called, as promised, from California before he was set to ship out. It had been the last time Jackie had heard his voice. She cherished it in her mind, especially since she had no idea how long he would be gone for, and when she would hear his voice again. As promised, she wrote a letter every day. She numbered each letter, knowing they probably wouldn't get to him in order. She was starting to get used to this life.

It was just another normal summer day for the gang. They were sitting in the Forman's kitchen eating lunch with Red and Kitty.

"Yea, Donna and I will have to find an apartment off campus if we're going to be married while in college," Eric said, He had popped the question to Donna a few days prior. Jackie couldn't believe that Donna would want to marry that scrawny geek.

"Better for all the people in the dorms," Hyde said. "No one wants to hear the two of you having sex."

They were interrupted by the ringing of the phone. No one thought anything of it, since the phone rang quite often in the Forman household.

"Oh hi Victoria," Kitty said when she answered the phone. Jackie's ears perked up as soon as she heard the name. She knew that was Kelso's mom.

"Oh dear," Kitty said, everyone immediately stopped their talking, since they also knew that was Kelso's mother on the other end of the phone. "I…I will certainly let them know," Kitty said with a quaver in her voice. When she turned to face them all, she had tears in here eyes. Jackie stood up.

"He's ok, right Mrs. Forman?" Jackie asked. "He's just hurt, right? Please tell me he's alive!" Jackie shrieked.

"Oh dear…I'm so sorry, He's gone. They identified his body today."

Jackie suddenly felt light headed. She collapsed into the chair she had been sitting in, and the last thing she remembered was Kitty's hand on her shoulder.

Then her world went black.


End file.
